The disclosures herein relate generally to IC card assemblies and more particularly to a protection or dummy card used to fill an empty IC card slot.
Electronic devices which incorporate slots for IC cards such as PCMCIA Cards, Compact Flash Cards and other electronic card structures, may be stored, shipped or used without the card being installed in the slot. However, when such slots are empty, there is a risk of ingress of debris or foreign object damage to the host connector within the slot, or any internal components which would otherwise be protected if the card were installed in the slot. Also, when the card slot is empty, the host device loses physical integrity due to the unsupported space within the empty slot. Internal components of the host device, including pins of the host connector may also be subjected to atmospheric corrosion when not protected or covered.
The above-mentioned damage may occur at anytime there is no card in the slot, including periods of non-use and periods prior to use such as when the host device is being shipped. The functional cards used in the slots are relatively expensive and are available with a variety of options, so that the end user may prefer to select the type of functional card or cards to be used with the host device. Therefore, it may not always be possible to ship the host device with the installed functional card. An additional problem which may occur when there is no card in the slot is the loss of shielding against electromagnetic interference.
Therefore, what is needed is an IC protection card which can be inserted into an IC card slot in a host device and the functional card is removed, or when the device is being shipped without a functional card mounted therein, for limiting the ingress or debris or foreign object to the host connector or internal components, for maintaining the physical integrity of the slot within the host device, for limiting atmospheric corrosion to the host connector pins, for shielding the host against electromagnetic interference and which can be provided relatively inexpensively.